Huawei hosted the opening ceremony for Seeds for the Future – its global flagship CSR program for undergraduate level students from all ICT-related disciplines in Kathmandu on Tuesday. This is the second year that Huawei has launched the program in Nepal.

The program was first launched in 2008 in Thailand. Since then, over 12,000 students from over 130 countries and regions have participated in the program.

This year, the company said it received 256 applications from all over Nepal. A total of seven students were then selected on the basis of their GPA, motivation letter and a selection interview conducted by Prof. Dr. Shashidhar Ram Joshi, Prof. TimilaYami Thapa, Prof. Dr. Subarna Shakya, and Prof. Dr. Manish Pokharel.

The seven students selected from Nepal include Nirman Khadka (Kathmandu University), Banshaj Paudel (Madan Bhandari Memorial College), Jatin Bhusal (Khwopa Engineering College), Reeya Baidya (IOE, Pulchowk), Nadika Poudel (IoE Pulchowk), Pagya Mallick (Kathmandu University) and Anju Tamang (Amrit Science Campus). They are pursuing bachelor’s level courses on ICT-related subjects.

Since their selection in July, the students have been receiving insights into the ICT industry in Nepal via various engagements. The students have received classes on the data center business in Nepal, learned how FTTH internet works during their visit to the offices of DishHome, and taken part in Chinese calligraphy and Chinese paper cutting workshop at the China Culture Center in Kathmandu. The students are also being engaged by UNESCO as part of theorganization’s “The Next 50” campaign.

According to Huawei, the students will also get to participate in the first-ever regional onsite program going to be held in Bangkok from August 19 to August 27 where they will learn about 5G, AI, Cloud Computing, the Metaverse and other emerging technologies while also seeing practical applications of 5G and engaging in cross-cultural learning with students from 14 countries.

The selected students will also participate in the “Tech4Good” competition where they will have to come up with an original idea to combat real-world environmental or social problems. The winning teams from the Tech4Good project will get to join the Tech4Good accelerator camp being held in Singapore from August 29 to September 2. Upon their return, they will also visit a Huawei-built base station at Muktinath in late September.

Addressing the program, Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Baikuntha Aryal, Chairman of Nepal Telecommunications Authority Purushottam Khanal and the selection committee members thanked Huawei for introducing such a program in Nepal and extended their best wishes to the selected students for the Tech4Good competition.

Member of the Board, Huawei Nepal Jason Li said that Huawei wants to continue to be able to give talented students a platform for international exposure and learning.